o_ of exquisitely chiselled critical
commonplaces goes far toward being a _chef d'oeuvre_ of mere
manipulative skill; and we are still, by our daily use of some of its
lines, justifying the truth of Addison's dictum, that "Wit and fine
Writing doth not consist so much in advancing Things that are new as
in giving Things that are known an agreeable Turn."

To the "Essay on Criticism" succeeded one of Pope's most brilliant
poems, the famous "Rape of the Lock." In its first form it appeared,
together with some minor poems and translations, in a volume of
"Miscellanies" published by Tonson's rival, Lintot. Its _motif_ was
the theft by a certain Lord Petre of one of the tresses of Miss
Arabella or "Belle" Fermor, and this venial larceny having somewhat
strained the relations of the two families concerned, Pope was invited
to compose matters by invocation of the Muse. The poem in its first
"Miscellany" form consisted of no more than two cantos; but Pope,
confident of his powers, and certainly with a better knowledge of his
own method than his critics could have possessed, boldly took
advantage of its success to expand it into five cantos by the addition
of a Rosicrucian machinery of sylphs and gnomes. This apparently
hazardous experiment was perfectly successful, and the "Rape of the
Lock" became what it remains, the typical example of raillery in
English verse--the solitary specimen of sustained and airy grace. If
it has faults, they are the faults of the time, and not of the poem,
the execution of which is a marvel of ease, good humor, and delicate
irony. Another of Pope's efforts at this date was "Windsor Forest," a
theme which, assuming that to be the best which lies nearest, should
have afforded material for another enduring success. But Pope, with a
matchless eye for manners, looked at nature with the unpurged vision
of his generation, and the poem, though not without dignity and beauty
of versification, is, to the modern reader, cold and conventional.

To the reader under Anne it was otherwise, for to him "verdant isles"
and "waving groves" and the whole farrago of gradus epithets were not
only grateful but indispensable. "Mr. Pope," wrote Swift to Stella
under date of March, 1713, "has published a fine poem called 'Windsor
Forest.' Read it." This is the only time Pope is mentioned in that
memorable journal (now nearing its closing pages) and it scarcely
points to any close relations. But, by and by, when Swift came b